A Denver food and cannabis investigator became suspicious of PolkaDot-branded chocolate bars sitting next to convenience store energy shots and nicotine pouches in January 2026.

Months earlier, California public health officials warned about PolkaDot-branded chocolate bars. California authorities destroyed more than US$3 million of ...Read more

Scientists are making rapid progress toward a long-awaited goal that could help to reshape cancer care: mRNA cancer vaccines with the potential to significantly boost the immune system’s ability to fight and eliminate tumors.

Since the early 2000s, there have been over 120 promising clinical trials testing the use of mRNA vaccines ...Read more

Before launching his war on Iran, President Donald Trump said his most important goal was that Iran would “never have a nuclear weapon.” Yet it is not clear what, if anything, his administration has planned for dealing with Iran’s stock of enriched uranium that could be used to make nuclear bombs – or its remaining deeply buried ...Read more

Israel said it killed Iran’s security chief, Ali Larijani, in an overnight strike, intensifying a region-wide war that shows no sign of abating well into its third week.

Defense Minister Israel Katz said Larijani, the secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, and the commander of Iran’s paramilitary Basij unit have both been “...Read more

It’s open enrollment season for Medicare Advantage, when people currently enrolled in private managed-care plans can either sign up for a new one or switch to original Medicare through March 31.

But there’s a catch: If people want to move to original Medicare and buy a supplemental Medigap insurance plan to cover some out-of-pocket costs, ...Read more

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Gov. Gavin Newsom’s former chief of staff, Dana Williamson, left state service with two things: a federal corruption investigation and more than $50,000 in pay for vacation time she accrued but never took.

State payroll records reviewed by the Los Angeles Times show Williamson used approximately $30,000 in unused ...Read more

MIAMI — Instead of whizzing through the open marsh of the Everglades like he usually does, Tristan Tigertail steers his airboat alongside the man-made canal along Tamiami Trail.

On one side, cars speed past on the two-lane road that bisects the southern part of the state. A telecommunications tower looms above the landscape. On the other, ...Read more

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is fielding pressure from the White House to relax his controversial approach to vaccine policies as the midterms near, but his most steadfast supporters are pressing for more aggressive action — like restricting covid-19 vaccines and pesticide use — to carry out the Make America ...Read more

César Manuel González, 37, used to work with stone that was engineered to endure: dense, polished slabs designed to outlast the kitchens in which they were installed.

Engineered quartz countertops have surged in popularity in the home renovation market, with industry analysts estimating the global engineered stone market at around $30 billion...Read more

Eight-year-old Jonah woke up one May morning with a swollen face and a toothache. He refused the pain medication that his mom, Geneva Reynolds, tried to give him. He didn’t sleep or eat and cried constantly.

Within a few days, Reynolds became so desperate that she and her husband had to physically restrain Jonah, dumping pain medication down ...Read more

As federal immigration officers made more “at-large” arrests in communities across the country in the first year of the current Trump administration — including at homes, places of worship and workplaces — more than 1,100 Nebraska families developed family safety plans in the event a parent or breadwinner faced detention or deportation. ...Read more

As gas and heating prices spike amid the war with Iran, Gov. Maura Healey announced Massachusetts will be aiming to establish 10 new gigawatts of energy resources over the next 10 years creating an estimated $10 billion in savings.

“We need to get even more energy into Massachusetts,” Healey stated in Winchester on Monday. “That’s why ...Read more

After years of being antagonized by President Donald Trump, U.S. allies in Europe and Asia are in no hurry to bow to his demand that they send ships into a war he started — and has claimed to have won already.

Their response to his call for help to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, the chokepoint for about a fifth of the world’s oil, has ranged...Read more

A New Jersey resident who was arrested during a 2024 pro-Palestinian protest at Columbia University was released from federal immigration custody on Monday, her lawyers said.

Leqaa Kordia, a 33-year-old Palestinian woman, was held for more than a year in a Texas detention center, where she said she had a seizure and faced inhumane conditions.

...Read more

NEW YORK — Bank of America Corp. has agreed to settle a proposed class action lawsuit on behalf of Jeffrey Epstein victims who accused the bank of aiding in the deceased financier’s sex-trafficking, according to a court record.

The agreement in principle was noted Monday in the court docket in the case. Terms of the deal were not ...Read more

After Cuba’s deputy prime minister said Monday Cubans in Miami and elsewhere will be able to invest and own businesses on the island, one of Miami’s Cuban U.S. House members said anyone who intends to invest with the regime before political change “is insane.”

“If you’re insane, go ahead and invest in Cuba,” said Rep. Carlos Gimé...Read more

President Donald Trump told reporters at the White House Monday that Cuba would be ideal for the U.S. to take over because of pleasant weather and it is not prone to hurricanes.

If only that were true.

The island nation, which could be on the cusp of dramatic change after Cuban president Miguel Díaz-Canel said Friday the country’s open to ...Read more

Canada is considering eventual membership in a U.K.-led multinational rapid response force, but its immediate priority is rebuilding its military and reducing reliance on the U.S., Defense Minister David McGuinty said.

He said Canada is assessing whether to join the 10-nation Joint Expeditionary Force — which also includes the Nordics, ...Read more